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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Race Report: T-Rex 10 Mile Trail Race

I am writing this race report
with some reluctance. It is like the dilemma you might face with your favorite
restaurant or watering hole: you want to tell your friends about it, but you
really don't want the place to get too crowded and lose its initial charm. That
is how I feel about this race. It is everything I love in a trail race rolled
into one: small, quirky, inexpensive, friendly people, great course with lots of
shady single track, enough uphills to bitch (then brag) about and enough
downhills to enjoy. Seriously, what is not to love about a dinosaur themed race
on the 4th of July, with a cardboard cutout of Mel Gibson as a mascot, and
make-it-yourself snow cones at the finish line?

Proof that I can legitimately call myself an Old Fart

The first thing you need to know
about the race is that it is put on by a group called The Old Farts Running Club (of which I am a proud member). I have got to say that this group is one of the
friendliest groups I have ever met, and that is saying a lot because I know
some really friendly running groups! Besides being incredibly friendly, they
are also an eccentric and fun-loving bunch. Besides the TRex 10 Miler (and Wimpy
8k) dinosaur-themed race on the 4th of July, they also put on such gems as the
Beat the Grandma 8k and also some pretty serious (albeit still quirky) races, such as the Fallsburg Festival of Races and the Wild West 100k and Grin and BearIt 50k.

These races are all about every
competitor having a good time, and it shows. A great example of this has to do
with the adjustments that were made after last year's race. Last year it was
hot, hot, hot. A lot of runners really suffered, so they made two adjustments
for this year's race. They moved the start time back an hour and rerouted the course in the last few
miles of the course onto a shadier section of single track to remove a road
section with little shade. Those were two little changes that did a lot for the
comfort level of the racers. I know I really noticed and appreciated the changes.

Another thing the race director
does to make the atmosphere fun is to make sure that nearly everyone has
something to take home. (He really does understand that for some of us, it is
all about the "bling"!) However, he handles this in a typical Old
Farts Running Club kind of way. First of all, this year everyone that finished
got a fossilized shark tooth (which went well with the dinosaur theme). Also,
top finishers got the traditional TRex 10 miler towel. I did not get one this
year, but love mine from last year. Overall, Masters, and Grandmaster winners
also get a special basket full of all kinds of goodies.

The fun continues in the age
group awards, which are three year groups rather than the traditional five year,
and prizes go three deep. Here is where the quirkiness kicks in. The first
place is a really nice medal, but second and third are a little more unusual.
Last year, they were salt and pepper shakers that said something along the
lines of "I just didn't have the
pep-pa." This year, they were some
really cool railroad spikes painted in bright colors that said "Missed the
medal" on one side, and "Got the metal" on the other. They were
so cool, it made me wish I had gone a little slower and got second.

Finally, in case you still
managed to be empty-handed, there is a raffle that is unlike any other. It is
easier to just let them describe it: If
you don't win your age group then you might win at the "NOT" so Famous
T-Rex Raffle ... and odds are you'll win something Old Fartish or something Too
Lame to be called a raffle prize! Last year we had over 50 raffle winners!

Here is how the raffle works. They dump out a bunch of stuff onto a
table. The "stuff" is so random! This year there were everything from
old racing shirts, shorts, and hats to a pine derby kit, LED flashlights, a
pair of men's extra large Superman briefs, collapsible clothes hampers, and two
3 ft. tall stuffed Christmas elves (which I dearly wanted to win).

Prior to the start of the raffle, we all stalk the table making choices
and checking sizes (and sometimes figuring out the answer to the "What the
heck is that?" question). Then they draw names from the jar. If your name
is called, you have 30 seconds to grab your raffle prize. They call out the
names in rapid succession, and the table becomes a free-for-all of raffle
winners grabbing whatever is still left that looks good to them. Last year, I
picked up a very cool running poster and also a nice thermal shirt for Jer
(they had more prizes than runners last year). This year, unfortunately, the
raffle gods were not smiling in my direction. I was heartbroken that I didn't
get to bring home a stuffed elf. However, one of the winners was gracious enough
to pose for a picture so that you could see what I missed out on.

You'd be smiling too if you got to take home one of the coveted elves.

Okay, by this time you may be saying "Wait, isn't this a race
report? Did you actually run a race?"
Well the answer to that one is yes!
I ran the 10 miler while Leslie (my partner in crime from the Dances
With Dirt Gnaw Bone adventure and the Mango Madness race report author) ran the
Wimpy 8k (the doctor had just cleared her on Monday for physical activity after
her leg wound from the Mango Madness fall had become infected).

Leslie and Me Ready to Start

The race is at Fallasburg Park in Lowell, MI. The finish line is at one
of the picnic shelters at the park. Both races start together on a grassy field
below the finish line. Runners start across the grass field, but then it
narrows down to single track, with a bridge crossing and then more single track
for the first mile before emptying for a mile or so onto a dirt road. It gets
kind of congested in the first mile, as we do the conga-line thing on the
single track trail. Last year, I went out fast to get ahead of the crowd. This
year I tried a different strategy and went out a little slower hoping to have
more left for the latter (hillier) half of the race.

The ten miler has lots of little ups and downs, as well as three
increasingly difficult hills: Mini TRex, Little TRex, and Big TRex. The 8k
runners get to turn back after the Mini, hence the name
"Wimpy 8k." Mini and Little
TRex are not the kind of hills that give an ultrarunner much problem, but Big
TRex is truly a thing to dread. It is not really so much a hill as it is a
cliff, and you go right up the sandy, hot, unshaded face of it at about mile
5.5. It is a hands-on-the-knees type of
climb that makes the rolling hills that follow it a bit more painful than they
would normally be. Last year, it was much more of a shock to the system,
though. This year I was more prepared. That does not mean I went up it any
faster, just that I did not mind as much. I just told myself it was excellent
training for DWD Devil's Lake and pushed on. For those interested in such
things, the course is very well marked, with little chance of getting lost.
There are also mile markers and friendly "tourist information" signs
pointing out things like dinosaur eggs ahead (in a particularly rocky section),
identifying Stegasauras ridge, and warning of the upcoming TRex area.

I felt pretty good for the first four miles of the race, but the hills and the
heat in miles 5 through 7 really got to me. I struggled quite a bit and walked
more than I should have in a race of that length. I tried not to look at my
watch and just keep doing what I could do -- running when I could and walking
when I felt I couldn't. Luckily, I had done an extremely hot, uncomfortable,
and ugly ten mile training run last Friday afternoon with my friend Kate that
had reduced us to walking breaks in the last three miles, so I just kept
telling myself "This isn't as bad as the run with Kate. At least there is
shade." That helped me get through the rough parts.

Toward the end of the course, after mile 8, there was some really
pleasant downhill on a shaded dirt road, and I was able to pick it up. The last
mile is back on the same trail we came out on, so I knew what to expect and how
far it was to the finish. I was able to pick it up some and felt a little
better.

Now, let me tell you about the race finish. Remember how I said the race starts
in a field "below" the finish line. The finish line is on a low bluff overlooking
the field where we started. At the finish, we come out of the single track, run
across a grassy meadow, cross a bridge over a creek, and then have to go up a
ramp to the top of the bluff. The ramp is short, maybe 50 ft., but it is very,
very steep on tired legs. It is not the kind of thing I even like to run on
fresh legs! Thankfully, though, the finish is just over the top.

As I started running again after cresting the ramp (yes, I did walk up it
-- no pride here), I saw the time on the clock 1:40:03. As I crossed the finish
line, my watch said 1:40:23 -- exactly, to the second, the same time that I had run the previous
year. That time was good enough to win the age group last year, and it was also
good enough to win my new age group this year. I was really happy with the
result, both time and place, because I think it was even hotter this year than
last, despite the earlier start time, and with the marathon I had just done not
quite two weeks ago, I thought it was a pretty good outcome.

Soaking the legs post race

Post-race festivities here are some of my favorites. There are no bands,
beer tents, or huge crowds. Save that for the road racers. What there is --
besides the aforementioned raffle -- is a stream for cooling off in and
chatting with fellow runners. I met some really nice people, including Suzanne
Kosloski, the perennial Grand Master's champion (Someone really needs to check
her I.D. She is so beautiful and full of energy that she can't possibly be over
60!) and a couple of really nice people I met at the post race soak, including
a 5th grade teacher whose name I did not get but who took those great pictures
of me in the creek).

I also got to see
one of my RUT friends Brandon who was both helping out with this race and
advertising for the upcoming Naked Run.

Nuff said

One of the other post-race amenities that is my favorite is a snow cone
machine where runners can make their own post-race snow cones. If you have
never had a snow cone on a 90 degree day in Michigan after running ten miles
through the woods, you have no idea what you are missing! If you look closely
at the photos of me in the stream, you can see the tell-tale blue lips from my
post-race snow cone. Everyone knows blue is the best!

So, if you are putting together a race calendar for 2013, you may want to
pencil this one in. And, as I promised all those people I took pictures of at
the race, here is a video. (If you are in any of these pics and want to download
the JPG version, they are available on the Through a Running Lens Facebook page.)